Monday, March 23, 2015

The Old Framus

My first real guitar was this Framus classical 5/34 “Bocacciao” Sn#28189 61 H made in August, 1961. Framus master of guitar-making Richard Mueller approved the quality of the instrument by signing the label in it before it left the Framus workshop in Bavaria. The Bocaccio models date from the mid-1950s but the design was changed in the 1960s. I got it for my 16th birthday in Daytona Beach, Florida, in 1963 at a little shop run by Mr. Tamburini, an Italian luthier It has had quite journey. I left it with my older brother when I hit the road after University in 1970. His son played it and got in a fight with it. The front of it got pretty scratched up. I got it back when I moved to Austin, Texas, and messed around with it there for a few years. Then I gave it to my sister and she took it to Colorado and it sat in the attic there for a long time. I got it back again when I lived in Cambridge, MA, in the 1980's and then gave it to some friends of mine for their daughter to take lessons. They took it to Seattle and then gave it back to me when she grew up and didn't want to play it anymore. I still have it. It still sounds good. I took it to someone here in Nova Scotia to see if the neck could be reset. Instead of giving me an estimate he just went ahead and reset the neck. It has a lovely low action now. I corresponded with the Framus historian at the factory museum about the model and value of it and it seems that it has become collectable. A long life so far - 1961 to 2015.